Shifting Morals
by Catfisha
Summary: Ten years have passed, and Lydia Deetz has started her own life and moved out. She's even got a breathing boyfriend. But when her relationship plummets and she's asked to watch her parents' home, who will she turn to, I wonder... ?
1. Lydia Deetz

The year was now 1998, and about ten years had passed since the incident with Beetlejuice back when Lydia was only fourteen. In the passing decade, Lydia had managed to move out and find her own place. She'd scored a job in a camera shop, developing photos. It suited her. The job itself didn't pay as well as she'd wanted it to, but she'd gotten promoted enough times to where she was just below a manager position, so she was making just enough to survive.

Well that, and the combined income of her boyfriend also helped.

Yes, Lydia had actually managed to snag herself a _breathing_ boyfriend. Blasphemy, right?

She honestly hadn't given that whole incident with Beetlejuice a second thought since it was resolved those ten years ago. She was starting her life now. She was still intending on going to college in hopes of getting a career in photography started up.

She was twenty-four years old, she didn't have time to be thinking about the past irrationally excessively. Beetlejuice had not crossed her mind once since then. She merely cringed at the fact that she'd nearly married the damned guy.

Ugh, Sandworms had never been such a blessing at that particular moment.

Lydia, currently, had been walking home from another dull day at work. She loved photography, but the process of developing photos over and over again just got boring as all hell after a year or two. Especially when some one the photos that got developed were just... Weird. And slightly pornographic. People were so weird.

She walked up the steps of a rather rundown apartment complex, making her way to her and her boyfriend's apartment. She opened the dingy door, entering to see her boyfriend, Luke, watching TV as usual.

She greeted her boyfriend of two years with a subtle smile. "Hey, babe. How was work today?"

Luke had a messy tuft of sandy blonde hair on his head, his body lean, but very much scrawny. He had a strong jawline, his eyes being hazel. He looked at his girlfriend lazily, eyeing her over. "I didn't go in today."

Lydia looked puzzled. "Why? You're not sick or anything. You had nothing better to do." She sounded slightly irritated, but she waited for his justification.

"Babe, I just didn't feel like it today. Plain and simple."

Lydia's eyes narrowed, now being rightfully irritated. "Are you freaking _kidding_ me, Luke? Our rent is due by the end of the month! Now we're going to be behind, _again_, because you just decided that you didn't _feel_ like going into work. Typical. If we get evicted, it's on you."

And with that, she stomped off into their bathroom to take off her makeup and such after a long day of work. Now, all she wanted to do was sleep. Luke was absolutely unbelievable sometimes. Their relationship had been a little rocky within the past year, but she'd still managed to keep it afloat.

She turned on the bathroom light and eyed herself in the mirror. She'd changed quite a bit since the whole Beetlejuice incident, naturally. Nobody remains their fourteen year old self, after all. She'd grown up.

She'd gotten taller, and her body had filled out a bit more. She now had some curves, but nothing major. She was still as frail and deathly pale as ever.

Her straight, coal black hair had grown a bit, now resting over her breasts in length. She absolutely did _not_ put her bangs into those weird little spikey things anymore. Geez, why did she _ever_ think that that looked good... Her bangs were still cut straights across, however. They rested just above her eyebrows.

She still did her makeup relatively similarly, except her eyeliner was less smudged. She naturally had those sunken in eyes. Now matter how much concealer she packed on, she'd _always_ managed to look dead. Ugh.

She washed her makeup off and changed into her black pajamas. Yes, her wardrobe hadn't changed much in ten years. She still mainly wore black clothing, just more... Fashionably. Looking at old pictures of herself was freaking embarrassing, geez.

Luke hadn't even bothered to come and try to reconcile with her or anything, which only irritated her further. The moment she'd plopped down on her bed, however, she heard their house phone ring. It was all the way out in the living room, and she didn't feel like getting it. She heard Luke answer.

A couple of minutes later, Luke walked into their bedroom and handed the phone to her. "Babe, it's your dad."

She shifted up and snatched the phone from Luke's hand excessively harshly. She gave him a glare, and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Oh, Lydia, hey! Yeah, me and your mother-"

"Step mother."

"... Step mother, are going to be going on a vacation to California for a couple of months. D'ya think you could watch the house while we're gone?"

Lydia sounded mildly annoyed. "Dad, I've got a job. Your house is way too far away. It'd be a hassle to get to work every day."

"We're leaving the car here! You can drive it to work instead of walking. Come on, dear, this is an offer you can't refuse." Charles sounded like he was trying to be funny, but Lydia remained straight faced on the other line. It was clear that she generally just wasn't in a good mood.

"Okay, okay. Fine. I guess it'd be nice to have a nice, big house with my boyfriend for a couple of months. Are you guys paying me or..." She said, with a slight chuckle.

Charles acquired a stern, fatherly tone. "Now, Lydia, come on... A boy in the house by yourself?"

"Dad, I'm twenty four years old." She reminded him, having to remind him of her age a little too frequently.

There was silence on the other line for a moment, "... Stay out of my office. He can come too. Can you two come down today? We're leaving tomorrow."

"Wow, that's short notice."

"Well, can you?"

"Yeah, sure, I guess. We'll be down there in a bit." She said with an exasperated sigh. She was just getting ready to go to bed, but... Guess not. Ugh.

She hung up with her father and put her casual clothes back on, lazily walking back out into the living room. Luke was still watching TV.

"Luke, come on. We're going over to my parents' house. They want us to watch their house for a couple of months while they fly off to California."

Luke let out an exaggerated sigh. "Do _we_ really have to? Why don't you just go by yourself? They're _your_ parents, after all. It's probably smarter that I stay here to uh, make sure nobody breaks in or something..."

Lydia rolled her eyes, her tone sharp. "God damn it, Luke. Seriously? Why do you need to fight me with _everything_? I swear, you enjoy pissing me off sometimes."

"Well, you _are_ kind of cute when you're pissed off, Lyds."

She knew that was meant to make her laugh, but it only annoyed her further. He was being absurdly insensitive. "You know what? Fine. You can stay here, being a lazy asshole as usual. I swear to god, Luke, you're cutting it _really_ close..." Lydia started storming towards the door to let herself out, but Luke suddenly shot up from the beat up couch, his arms out.

"What in the hell do you want from me? Huh!? _I_ make most of the income here, _I_ buy the food, _I _provide for you, love you, whatever!"

Lydia shot around, her hand on the doorknob. "_What_? I could survive without you, Luke. Don't kid yourself." She opened the door and walked out. But before she closed the door, she peeked her head in for some final words. "You're pathetic." She finished, her tone sharp. She them slammed the door, then descended down the apartment complex stairs to get to her bike.

In the apartment, directly after Lydia left, Luke angrily smacked a cup off of the table in front of him in spite. "What the fuck is her _problem_ lately, jesus fucking christ." He hissed, slumping back down on the couch.

Outside, Lydia began her ride to her parents' house. She'd been missing Barbara and Adam anyway. And right now, she really needed them around to hear her out about all of this stupid Luke crap. The two of them used to be so happy, in the beginning... What happened?


	2. The Ticket Out

Lydia had finally made it to her parent's house in Winter River. She parked her bike at the side of the house and knocked on the door, watching the sun begin to set in the distance. It'd taken her a good twenty minutes to get down her. Charles Deetz opened the door, now slightly aged through the ten years.

"Lydia! Come on in. Thanks for getting' over here on short notice and everything. Anywa- Uh, Delia dear! Lydia is here!" He called out, Delia Deetz being in the other room, working on one of her sculptures.

She managed to get somewhere with them, thankfully. She now had regular customers purchasing her sculptures, so she was as neurotic and busy as ever. From the other room, a rushed voice replied, "I don't have _time_, Charles! My art needs to make some damned progress! I've got _buyers_, you know!"

Charles shrugged off his second wife's typically neurotic behavior. Lydia could hear Delia mumbling incoherent things to herself from the other room.

Lydia walked in. She'd only visited about a month ago, but she'd always found it pretty funny to see that the house literally hadn't changed a bit in the past ten years. Probably because of Delia's manic OCD.

Charles and Lydia walked in to where Delia had been, and Delia was rushing around like a mad woman. She'd been working on three rather ghoulish sculptures simultaneously. Lydia raised an eyebrow. "Geez, Delia. Just when I thought you weren't spazzy enough." She teased, smirking. Delia raised a black gloved hand, "Are you two talking? I need to _concentrate_! Can't you two see that?" Her tone was snappy, as usual. Charles sighed and left Delia to it, taking Lydia with him. "Anyway. You can spend the night here, and we'll be gone in the morning. And, uh... Isn't Luke supposed to be with you? Not that I'm complaining, but..."

Lydia shrugged. "He skipped out. He apparently has better things to do than accompany his girlfriend to her parent's house."

Not wanting to pry, and not really caring enough, Charles nodded. "Ah, okay, well... It goes without saying that everything here is yours for three months. Just leave my office alone."

"Yeah, I got it the first thousand times dad." She said with a chuckle, eyeing the stairs. "Is my old room still intact?"

"We've changed it into a guest bedroom, but it's still a bedroom. Knock yourself out, kid."

Lydia spent a bit longer chatting with her father and catching up, but not too long. She was always tired as it is. Hell, she was about to pass out before _this_ guy called her over.

She slumped up the stairs and plopped herself down on the bed in her old room. Finally, some peace and quiet...

Nope.

Barbara and Adam Maitland appeared at either side of her bed, clearly happy to see her. They both had smiles plastered on their dead faces. "Lydia! You know, it gets awfully boring when you're not around." Barbara said, dressed in the patterned gown that she'd died in, naturally.

Lydia groaned, rubbing her eyes. "Hey, guys."

"Oh, were you about to go to sleep? We could come back later." Adam said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He too, was dressed in the clothing that he died in. Naturally. Lydia sighed, "It's just been a long day. I was kind of hoping to just pass out and call it a day, guys."

They both looked a little disappointed, but understood. They could just talk to her tomorrow, after all. "Alright, honey. See you tomorrow." Adam said, taking his leave. Barbara looked at Lydia, concern on her face. She had a feeling that something was wrong with Lydia... Maybe she should ask if... No, she'd save it for tomorrow. Barbara followed Adam out.

It didn't take long for Lydia to fall into a much needed sleep.

Holy fuck, this waiting room was driving him bat shit insane.

Since the whole "sandworm" thing, Beetlejuice had remained in the waiting room for the past... Fuck, he didn't even know how long it'd been. He'd already hassled every woman in the waiting room, so he didn't even have anything to play with at this point.

This shit was as boring as boring could be.

He'd even tried to haggle Miss Argentina into letting him out for some fresh air, just one time. Just once. She always replied with some snarky response along the lines of: _"There is no 'fresh air' in the world of the dead, idiot."_

Ugh. No whore houses, and he'd read through every god damned magazine here. Even the fucking interior design ones, for fuck's sake. Even the religious ones! That bitch Juno was keepin' him on a tight leash, that was for damned sure. How in the hell was he going to get out of this mess? He'd only spent half of his time in here.

Well, at least his head wasn't shrunken anymore. That was a plus.

He often tried to scheme up some way to involve the Maitland household in busting him out of here, but _those_ plans never worked. Juno usually caught him red-handed.

He thought about involving the kid, Lydia, but she didn't even live under that roof anymore. It seemed the kid had grown up a bit, or some shit like that. Since he had literally nothing better to do, he would occasionally check out on the Maitlands household to see if maybe Lydia had stopped by.

Because if Lydia was under that damned roof, that was a chance of him getting out of this hell hole. Whenever she was payin' her folks a visit, he'd waste no time in creeping into her dreams somehow. The name calling chant still worked for him. If he could get _someone_ to say his name three times, he'd be outta this place.

But the problem was, was that no one gave a flying fuck about him at the moment. Getting Lydia to say his name three times would be, uh, what's the word... Oh, right, fucking impossible.

Wait, that was two words. Ah, fuck it.

Oh, and what's this? Well, looks like luck was on his side after all...

He used a shitty handheld mirror to look into the living realm. In the waiting room, he easily got away with it by basically just looking like a vain asshole by looking in a mirror constantly. No one seemed to suspect a damned thing. Idiots.

Right now, he could see the Deetz brat sleeping away. And, of course, even in her old bedroom. It was showtime.

From the waiting room, all he had to do was close his eyes and pretend to be taking a nap or something. That's how he always managed to sneak into Lydia's dreams.

Lydia's dream tonight was a little strange. She'd found herself on a strange, yellow sand filled planet. With a bunch of weird pink pillar-ish things popping out from the sand here and there. In the distance, she could see a sandworm swimming through the sand. The sandworm was getting closer. Uncomfortably close. She tried to run, but she couldn't move. She was frozen to the spot.

Suddenly, the sandworm rose from the depths of the sand, it's jaw opened wide directly over Lydia's body, and swallowed her whole. Lydia screamed as the worm consumed her, but...

Upon the worm eating her, she found herself being transported somewhere else. She looked down, and saw that she'd been wearing her red wedding dress from all those ten years ago. She gasped, holding her hands out. "Why in the hell am I wearing this?" She asked herself, looking around at her surroundings. Everything around her was void, and black. Nothingness. She was starting to seriously freak out.

She suddenly felt herself sinking. There was no water, but she physically felt as if she was drowning. She gasped and pawed at her throat, her eyes wide and questioningly confused. She looked down and saw her feet disappear into the nothingness, like quicksand. Slowly, her whole body was sucked in.

She couldn't breathe.

Everything was black.

Her heart had stopped beating.

Suddenly, she came to with a harsh gasp. However... Now, she was laying on a ragged couch, still clothed in her red wedding dress. She shot up and touched her throat instinctively, slightly traumatized by the ordeal. She looked around and saw that she'd been sitting in some sort of... Waiting room. But it wasn't a normal waiting room. It was completely empty, and the only sound that filled the air was the hauntingly slow, rhythmic ticking of a clock overhead.

She slowly sat up, looking around cautiously. The moment she stood, an abruptly loud laugh that was all too familiar shot into her ear, making her jump.

The one and only Ghost with the Most materialized in front of her, clothed in his dark red tuxedo from their little makeshift wedding all of those years ago.

Lydia looked absolutely perplexed, and slightly frightened. "What in the..."

Beetlejuice grinned, his disgusting teeth showing through. "Save it, babes. You see what you're wearin' there? Yeah, you owe me."

Lydia looked genuinely confused. "I don't owe you a damned thing!"

Beetlejuice held up a finger, waving it. "Ah, but that's where you're fuckin' _wrong_! Y'see, if you _recall_, a little brat by the name of Lydia Deetz agreed to marry me as my ticket out of this fuckin' place at some point... But she also decided to be a complete bitch and back out on the deal, lettin' me get eaten by a god damned sandworm." He assumed a rather dramatic tone to his voice. "If that ain't getting left at the alter, I don't know what is!"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "You were _using_ me as a ticket out, asshole. I wasn't stupid. So, I simply used you. I don't owe you anything. You brought this on yourself."

Back in reality, Lydia stirred in her sleep. She shuffled, turning over a couple of times, before she finally mumbled something.

"_B-Beetlejuice..."_

Back in Lydia's subconscious, after hearing Lydia physically say his name in her sleep, he grinned. Just two more times. He had to keep this shit going. He zipped towards Lydia rather melodramatically, grabbing her and theatrically dipping her down, planting a fat smack of a kiss on her lips. "C'mon, babes! What's a guy gotta do to get outta this fuckin' joint, huh? C'mon, you know you've got a thing for the Ghost with the Most!" He said with a raspy chuckle. Lydia squirmed, kicked him in the shin, and freed herself. She wiped her lips clean, spitting on the floor. "EGH! Good god, why would you-"

Beetlejuice started hacking up a lovely little loogie in front of her, spitting it into his tuxedo. Lydia made a disgusted face. He cut her off, "Damn kid, you've grown up. A little too much for my liking, honestly. You're boring as shit now, you know that?" He suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind her, his hands on her shoulders.

"C'MON, LYDS! You gotta remember the good times! Like uh, you know..." He paused, having to literally strain himself to think of something positive that they'd ever shared together. "Uh... Yeah, when I saved the Maitlands from getting exorcised! Or when I... Uh..."

Lydia turned around and shoved him. "You're vile, you know that?"

"Oh, shush. You know you secretly have a thing for me. You know, I like it when they play hard to get." He said, a raspy laugh escaping him. Lydia stormed off, but Beetlejuice put up a bit of an invisible wall to prevent her from leaving. She ended up walking face-first into it. "Agh, damn it!" She started punching the wall. "What the hell is this?!"

Beetlejuice approached her, "What, you think I'm just gonna let the best gal in town just walk the fuck on outta here?" He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, they were in the cemetery of Adam's model. They stood in front of Beetlejuice's grave. "C'mon, come on in! I'll fix ya somethin' to eat! I hope ya like Italian." He said, waving a hand.

Back in reality once again, Lydia continued to stir in her sleep. It was now the next day, and Charles and Delia were getting ready to leave. They walked up the stairs, knocking on Lydia's bedroom door. "Honey? Are you awake?" Charles said, but Delia intervened and starting banging on the door. "We're _leaving, _Lydia! Try not to destroy anything or do any of those rituals while we're gone! If you touch my sculptures or throw any of those crazy parties, so help me-" Charles stopped her.

"_Fuck you, Beetlejuice..." _She mumbled, just before being jolted awake by Delia's yelling and banging on her door. Was she serious? God, that woman was insane sometimes.

"Okay, okay! Geez. Have a nice vacation and everything." She said through the door, plopping back down in her bed. She had a massive headache. That dream last night was... Weird. She would occasionally have brief dreams with Beetlejuice in them from time to time, but only really when she visited and stayed the night in this house specifically.

That told her something. She wasn't an idiot, she knew exactly what was going on. Beetlejuice was trying to contact her. He was probably trying to get back over to this side so he could stir up some more shit. Typical.

Last night's dream was a little different from the others, though. They were never usually that long, or that personal. He must have been getting desperate.

Beetlejuice opened his eyes, yawning. Well, that went better than he'd expected. That brat had said his name not once, but twice. Third times the charm... Just one more time, and he'd be outta here. He'd just need to keep invading her subconscious.

Hopefully she didn't know how to lucid dream, because he fully intended on stirring some shit up.

That girl was always his little "get out of jail free" card. She always had been.

Now, it was time to use that card...


	3. Dating The Devil

**Author's Note:**

TRIGGER WARNING: So before I start this chapter off, I need to give a bit of a disclaimer. If you have ever been a victim of physical abuse in your life, I don't suggest reading this chapter, as it contains just that. So, I thought that I would give any readers a fair warning.

Also, this chapter is significantly darker.

Enjoy, and leave reviews please! :)

-Catitia

Lydia was up, fixing herself some breakfast. Adam and Barbara were standing with her in her parents' rather lavish kitchen, listening to Lydia. Lydia had decided that it was probably best to tell the Maitlands about her dream last night, just to give them a heads up. Little did Lydia know, however, that she'd already been dangerously close to summoning The Ghost with the Most back into the world of the living.

Barbara's hand was to her mouth, a worried look on her face. "Do you really think he's trying to contact you? Oh, no... This can't be good. Adam, we should talk to Juno." She turned to her husband, worried. Adam sighed, his arms folded. He adjusted his glasses before speaking. "Lydia, have you had any other dreams like this? I think Lydia might be on to something here, Barbara."

Lydia poured herself some orange juice, "I've had a couple here and there. But I honestly only have dreams involving him when I'm sleeping in this house, so that's mostly why I'm thinking that he's trying to contact me. It can't just be a coincidence, right?"

Barbara shook her head. "No, it doesn't like a coincidence to me... But it's been a decade, why would he take so long to get what he wants?" Adam finished her thought, "Beetlemire-"

"_Beetlejui-" _Lydia was about to correct Adam on the pronunciation of his name for the billionth time, but then she slapped her hand over her mouth, realizing her almost fatal mistake. Barbara giggled a bit at that. Adam cleared his throat and continued his sentence, "Well, we know that he's not exactly the kind of man to do things slowly like this. Barbara's right. He must be limited somehow."

Barbara looked over at him, "Well, honey, he did kind of get devoured by a sandworm and get banished to who knows where..."

Lydia bit her toast, sipping some of her orange juice. "Whatever the case is, I just wanted to let your guys know and give you a heads up. Just in case. You never know. Ugh, I can't believe that guy is convinced that I _owe_ him anything..."

The doorbell, suddenly, could be heard ringing throughout the spacious house. Lydia and the Maitlands all jumped simultaneously. Lydia put her toast down and walked to go and answer the door, assuming it to just be the mail man or something. But when she opened the door, to her surprise, she found Luke.

Luke stood there with something behind his back, and he looked tired. Lydia was genuinely surprised, given their fight just yesterday. "... Luke? What're you doing here?"

Luke revealed what he had behind his back: A small bouquet of flowers. He eyed her with apologetic, hazel eyes. "I'm sorry about yesterday, babe." Then, he scooted a suitcase that he'd left to the side to remain hidden closer to him. "And I'm here to keep you company."

He sounded sincere enough... Lydia decided to forgive the guy. For now. They'd had worse fights anyway in their two years together. Lydia smiled and moved out of the way to let him in, "Get the hell in here, chump." She teased, playfully smacking him on the shoulder on his way in. She closed the door behind him and motioned upstairs. "You can put your stuff upstairs in my old room, if you remember where that is. It's been ages since you've stayed the night here." "I remember. No worries."

She left him to it. She looked over to see the Maitlands standing not too far away, smiling. "Aw, Lydia... He's too sweet. You really picked a good one." Barbara said, her hands behind her back. "I'd say he's a better "husband" than... Well, you know who." Barbara winked, walking towards the stairs. "We'll be up in the attic, honey. Come talk with us if you need to." Adam said, following Barbara up the stairs.

Lydia loved the Maitlands so much. Sometimes, she felt like they were better parents to her than her own living, breathing parents. Her real biological mother had dead some years ago, and Barbara was more than qualified to fill in that role for her. Lydia walked up the stairs as well, making her way into her room to find Luke unpacking his things. She touched his shoulder, "Hey. I'm sorry if I over reacted earlier. You just... Please don't take days off like that when you don't need to, okay? We have bills to pay."

Luke reached his hand back and placed it over her hauntingly pale hand. He turned around to face her, his hand reaching up to cup her cheek. "I promise, babe. No more of that shit. I shouldn't have been such an ass about that." This was why she loved Luke. They had their fights, surely, but they always managed to patch things up.

However, when her and Luke had first gotten together, things weren't exactly sunshine and rainbows. He used to be slightly physically abusive with her, and they'd actually broken up over it. She didn't speak to him for months, but... She ended up forgiving him, after months of him begging for her back. He hadn't hit her since. Not a single time. So she believed his sincerity. She trusted him.

But was that trust a mistake? That's what Lydia had always wondered. Was she a naive fool for trusting a man who once physically harmed her? Maybe. But only time would tell.

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Beetlejuice looked through his handy dandy mirror at the little scene between Lydia and Luke. He couldn't help but laugh. "Looks like dear little Lyds found herself a prince charming. Yeah, this shit ain't gonna last. Lydia and some prince charming kind of fuck... Yeah, _that's_ going to end in some sunshine and rainbows, kids. Dumbasses." He snorted, thinking to himself: "_I had her first, anyway. Get away from my damned wife."_ He laughed at his own little sarcastic thoughts, of course. Predictably. Aw, shit. It looked like things were starting to get a little... Pornographic. This was awkward.

Through the mirror, Beetlejuice saw Lydia and her little boy toy starting to kiss. Ugh. Breathers kissin' and shit. Definitely not the kind of porn he needed to be watching. He tucked his mirror away, and simply waited anxiously for Lydia to go to sleep tonight. Tonight, she'd make him say his name one last time. Hell, the poor girl didn't even know that she'd already dug her own damned grave. This was going perfectly.

Luke wrapped his arms around Lydia's small waist, they lips connecting. She wrapped her arms around him mutually, and was mildly surprised when Luke picked her up and wrapped her legs around his hips. He walked them over to her bed and laid her down, his figure looming over her. She smiled, going to kiss his neck. But... She saw something that made her heart sink. Something that she'd only just now noticed.

One Luke's neck, she clearly saw a bruise. Not just any bruise, _that_ kind of bruise. Rage filled every inch of her body. She shoved Luke off of her violently and rose from her bed, standing at the opposite end of the room from him. "What in the _hell_ is that!?" Lydia yelled, her eyes narrowing. Luke looked confused. "What are you talking about? Don't fucking yell at me like that, babe."

She pointed an accusing finger towards his neck. "Don't play dumb with me. That bruise on your neck, that's not just any ordinary bruise that you can just get at work. Who's _that_ from?" Luke was silent for a moment. He wasn't going to deny anything, because it was obvious enough that he was guilty. But, of course, he took the defensive rather than admitting his mistake.

He flared up, "Now you're sounding like some overly protective, jealous bitch of a girlfriend. Good job, Lyds. Good fucking job." Lydia absolutely couldn't believe his sheer immaturity and lack of common sense. Was he serious right now? What was so difficult about just owning up to his bullshit? She pressed on, "What, exactly, is so god damned difficult about owning up to your sins, huh? If you cheated on me, just say so. You didn't have that yesterday, so you must have fooled around with someone after we fought. Is that _really_ your way of getting back at me, Luke? Is it? Real fucking mature."

Lydia turned to walk towards her door, needing to talk to Barbara. She didn't even want to look at his face right now. She felt like she was about to cry, and she didn't want to show that to him. She didn't want to show him any signs of weakness.

As she grabbed the doorknob, however, she was slightly shocked to feel Luke's uncomfortably firm grip on her forearm. He was hurting her. "Luke, let me go. You're _hurting_ me." Lydia warned, fear beginning to rise in her.

Luke only gripped her tighter. "_I'm not done __**talking**__ to you, Lydia._" The tone of his voice grew slightly deeper, and he spoke those words close to her ear. He didn't yell them, but his whisper was filled with rage. It terrified Lydia. She felt a shiver run up her spine. She tried to jerk her arm away, but to no avail. Luke had grabbed her over arms and forcefully pushed her away from the door, causing her to stumble and fall over on to her bed. Well, at least she fell on a soft surface. But she scrambled and sat back up immediately, legitimately fearing for her safety. Her voice was beginning to tremble. "Luke... _You're scaring me._"

Back in the waiting room, Beetlejuice had been witnessing the entire thing. He'd decided to peak back in to see if the little porno through his mirror had gotten interesting at all. And it, in fact, had. He wasn't liking what he was seeing. Beetlejuice was a fucking asshole con-man, and he knew that better than anybody. But he _did_ have just enough of a sense of morals to not exactly get a kick out of watching the Deetz brat get knocked around by her "prince charming." However, he couldn't exactly do a damned thing about it. All he could do was watch.

When he got out of this damned waiting room, he was going to rip that little boy to shreds...

Lydia's fear rose when Luke approached her with a look on his face that she'd never seen before. He just looked _so angry._ She had no other choice, she needed help. "BARBARA! ADAM!" She called out, currently being literally backed into a corner by her boyfriend. Luke scoffed, "Your ghost parents aren't going to do a damned thing, babe. Now... I need to tell you something, and you need to listen to me good and well." Luke leaned in closer to Lydia, his lips to her ear. "If you _ever_ mention the mark on my neck again, you're going to regret it. How about we just... Pretend that it isn't there, hm?"

Lydia would have shoved him out of the way, but she was too terrified to. She had no doubt in her mind that he'd hit her. Finally, Barbara and Adam rushed into Lydia's room. They'd never heard Lydia sound so frantic. But once they saw _why_ she sounded so frantic, they understood. Barbara looked at the scene before her in both shock and sympathy, especially because of what she'd said earlier about Luke... How he'd be a better husband for Lydia than... Well, him. Luke, however, had never been able to see the Maitlands. He'd always heard about them from Lydia, but was never able to communicate with them directly.

That's where Lydia had the advantage. Lydia looked at her ghostly parents with a look that said "_Help me_." The Maitlands quickly took action. Adam snapped his fingers and opened the floor up underneath Luke, while Barbara had managed to turn the nearby lamp into a snake. The snake wrapped itself around Luke's torso, before Luke plummeted down through the hole in the floor. Luke screamed, and they all heard him hit the basement floor hard. The moment Luke was gone, Lydia let out all of her tears. They poured down her face, and she ran to Barbara and Adam. They both hugged Lydia while she sobbed into their embrace.

"I... I didn't think that he'd do it again. I thought he'd changed. I thought..." She mumbled into them, her breathing uneven. All the Maitlands could do was hold her and comfort her.

In the basement, Luke had still been constricted by the snake. He was trying to free himself, but to no avail. But oddly enough, the snake began to... Change. It's head changed into a more humanoid face, with frazzled blonde hair. Luke was horrified, and rightfully so. The snake grinned at Luke, and spoke some final words. "_You like hittin' women, right? That's what gets your little rocks off? Well, you know what gets __**my**__ rocks off, asshole?" _Luke remained silent, not knowing what to say. The snake finished it's statement, _"Killin' little asshole breathers like you! Baaahaha!_" The snake let out an all too familiar cackle, then proceeded to chomp into looks throat. One of the main arteries.

The best way to kill breathers like him... Was to do it in a torturous way. Luke gasped and screamed, but his screams were diluted with his own blood filling his lungs. It didn't take very long for Luke to choke on his own blood.

Beetlejuice was completely and one-hundred percent satisfied. He knew that him doing some shit like that would get him in some serious shit with Juno later, but it was worth it. He wasn't allowed to use his "juice" under any circumstances, but he felt that this one time was the only exception. If he didn't kill that damned breather, he could've killed Lyds. And Beetlejuice wouldn't have that. Lyds was his only ticket out of this damned place, and he needed that ticket _alive._

But of course, predictably, Juno came stomping out into the waiting room, cigarette in hand. She pointed at Beetlejuice, "Get your ass in my off _now._" She said sternly, walking back, expecting him to follow. He did. He was trying to be on his "best behavior," which apparently involved killing breathers. Hey, he thought he'd been doing pretty damned well.

He walked into Juno's office and sat down on the other side of her desk, waiting to be berated. Juno put out her cigarette, glaring at her former assistant. "What in the _hell_ was that about? Are you kidding me?! Look, you must be a Grade A Idiot if you thought that pulling a stunt like that was going to earn you any points around here."

"Look, hag. I had my reasons. That Deetz brat was getting pumbled by her god damned boyfriend. What, did ya expect me to just sit there and watch that shit happen? Cut me a break here, grandma!"

Juno narrowed her eyes, only growing increasingly displeased. She leaned forward, "And _how_, dare I ask, were you able to know that?" Whoops. He was about to come up with some bullshit story before Juno continued, "Look, you've been dead for over sex-hundred years now. You've got to know by now that meddling in living affairs, no matter how grave, is absolutely forbidden. Who the hell do you think you are, Jesus?" She rolled her eyes and lit up another cigarette. Before she spoke, she thought to herself, shaking her head: "_I can't believe I'm about to say this..."_

She sighed, smoke escaping the slit in her throat. "I'm going to give you one more chance. If you screw this up, I'll personally exorcise you into the god damned Lost Souls room. Ya hear me?" Beetlejuice rolled his eyes and nodded, "Yeah. Sure. Roger that, captain."

Back in the Deetz household, Lydia had gone up to the attic with Barbara and Adam to talk it all out. She'd finally managed to stop crying, and she was speaking a little more clearly now.

"I just didn't expect this out of him, okay? I honestly didn't. He couldn't even own up to his mistakes... He couldn't even be honest with me. Two years, guys. _Two years._ Was it all wasted? Did I ever even really know him?"

Adam put a hand on Lydia's shoulder, "Lydia, honey. You're young. Being young comes with it's disadvantages, like being naive. Don't blame yourself. Just know that you now know better, and that you need to get this man out of your life. For good." That was the single best advice that Lydia had ever heard Adam give to her. She smiled at him, "Thanks, Adam. That means a lot." Barbara put her hand on Lydia's other shoulder, "He's right, Lydia. He really is. You're a smart, beautiful girl. You're too good for him."

Now, only one question remained. "Well... What are we going to do with him now? Where did he even fall to?" Lydia asked, looked at the two. Adam looked to Barbara, "Well... I-I think he fell to the basement. I suppose we could go check on him. Go and kick him out, and be mean about it. I know you're scared, but we're here to protect you. We won't let him touch you."

Lydia nodded and rose, ready to face to music. She had to be brave. All three of them cautiously descended towards the basement, readying themselves for an angry Luke.

Lydia opened the basement door, turning the light on, then walking down the steps. Nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to discover. She walked into the spacious basement, which was filled with most of Delia's un-purchased and unwanted sculptures, and some of the Maitlands old furniture. In the furthest corner opposite of where Lydia entered, however, was something that froze everything within Lydia. The Maitlands followed behind her, and stopped dead in their tracks. Both of them slowly reached out to grab Lydia's shoulders supportingly, but they were too late. Lydia ran towards the scene of the crime, kneeling down beside Luke's corpse. She couldn't even cry. She wasn't crying, but she was shaking violently and beginning to hyperventilate.

Before her, she saw Luke slumped back against the basement's corner. There was a large gash in his throat, and it looked like fang marks. Blood had pooled around him, the source seeming to come from only the wound on his neck. He was lifeless, but she couldn't help but check just in case. She brought her head to his chest, listening for a heartbeat. Nothing.

He was dead. Luke, her boyfriend of two years, was dead.

Barbara and Adam approached Lydia cautiously, not exactly knowing how to react to all of this. Adam adjusted his glasses, eying the fang marks on the boy's throat. "Barbara... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "I don't even know what I'm thinking right now, Adam. Lydia..." Barbara knelt beside Lydia, rubbing her back. "Lydia, you... You shouldn't be seeing this. Come o-" Lydia shrugged Barbara's hand away. "N-No... Just... Just leave me here. Please. Just... Just leave." Lydia's voice was trembling. It was pretty apparent that she was beginning to have an emotional breakdown.

However, Barbara wanted to respect her wishes and give her some privacy. Besides, she needed to talk to Adam about some things. Some... Theories. Barbara and Adam both left, but stayed close just in case anything unexpected happened. They talked just outside of the basement door, both of them rather concerned. "Barbara, those fang marks. Either we've got some crazed vampire living in Winter River, or..." Barbara finished his sentence. "... Or it was him. Maybe. We can't jump to conclusions, Adam. It could be anything. He's gone, and he wouldn't have the power to manifest anything here... Right?" Adam shook his head, "I don't know, Barb. But that's the only theory that makes sense to me right now. We've seen him take on that snake form of his, maybe... I don't know. If it was him, he was clearly protecting Lydia." Barbara scoffed, "Yeah, because she's a means to an end to him, Adam. She always has been. He's not protecting _her_, he's protecting his "get out of jail free" card."

There was a lot to absorb. And once Lydia was ready, the Maitlands were going to pitch this little theory of theirs to her.

Lydia Deetz would likely never be the same again after this.


	4. It's Showtime

Two days had passed, and Lydia had hardly slept. She'd hardly even eaten anything. The image of Luke dead in a pool of his own blood had been potently printed in her mind. Lydia had currently been sitting at the furthest edge of her bed, her knees held to her chest. It was safe to say that she was thoroughly traumatized by the entire ordeal.

But, honestly, part of her... Knew that it was for the better. Part of her knew that Luke being out of her life would only benefit her in the long run. However, she certainly _never _would have wished death upon him. Ever. She didn't want this. She wanted Luke to be out of her life, but just... Not like this.

She knew who had been behind this. There was _no one_ else who had the sheer audacity to do such a thing. And the fang marks were just a tell tale sign as well, given that he'd once taken the shape of a snake before. She also just generally had a feeling in her gut. She just _knew_ he was responsible for this.

~/~

Barbara and Adam had been trying to get into Lydia's room to speak with her, but to no avail. She'd locked herself in, and they didn't really feel like just barging in by walking through the door. They figured that Lydia would come out when she was ready to. But now, they had a more taxing matter to consider: Disposing of Luke's body. People were going to start noticing that Luke was missing, and they needed to deal with _that_ little mess sooner rather than later.

"Barbara, we've got a dead boy in the basement. That isn't exactly going to make the Deetz' look very good."

Barbara shrugged, "Hey, maybe it'll make Delia's sculptures sell." She joked, but frowned again once she realized that Adam was trying to be a little more serious about this.

"Two days have gone by already, his family is going to start wondering where he went eventually. Maybe we should call Juno..."

Barbara shook her head, "No, we can't call Juno for everything. Let's handle this ourselves. Besides, it's something to do while Lydia is... Well, you know."

Adam nodded. "Right. Okay. Well... Wait... Oh, honey! We can't leave the house, remember? I don't think we'll be able to cover this one up ourselves. We may just have to call Juno."

"But what would Juno even _do_?" Barbara said with a frustrated sigh, folding her arms.

"I.. I don't know, teleport the body to the afterlife or something?"

"Oh, Adam, this is hopeless."

~/~

Lydia, in truth, was exhausted. Her body was screaming at her to sleep, and she admittedly needed to. She'd developed dark circles under her eyes that popped out with pigment a little more noticeably, due to the contrast against her ivory skin. She looked half-dead. And she sure as hell felt like she was, too. She'd only just recently been able to stop crying over it. She felt like she was getting ready to be able to at least talk to someone, though. She let out a loud yawn, stretching her slender legs out in front of her on her bed. She slumped down a little, and she found herself fighting to stay awake rather quickly. Maybe some sleep wouldn't kill her. Just a quick nap... Just...

Suddenly, she found herself somewhere else entirely. She'd found herself in Adam's town model again, but this time, standing in front of a large red building. There were a number of busty, scantily clad women showing themselves off on the outer railings of the building. She recognized the building. It was the same one that Beetlejuice had been lounging on when the two of them had first encountered eachother. It honestly looked like a bit of a whore house... Which it probably was, knowing him.

And, of course, the grotesque Ghost With The Most could be seen shuffling out of the main doorway to the building, which had been a large devil's head. "BABES! LYDS! What, you commin' to audition? To be one of _these_ lovely ladies? C'mon, please say yes."

Lydia looked at him, unphased. She'd gotten very used to his... Ways. "What are you doing here?"

Beetlejuice looked a little confused. "The hell do you mean by that, babes? An average, Everyday Joe like myself can't find a little action after six-hundred years? Geez."

Lydia shook her head, "No, no, no. I mean, what the hell are you doing in _here_?" She was more referring to her conscience. Beetlejuice got the hint.

"Ah! Oh, oh. Yeah. That. Well, ya _see_, kid... If you recall, I kind of just murdered your dear, sweet little abusive prince charming for ya. So, I figured I'd pay ya a little visit. I think a thank you is in order, am I right?" He sounded fairly cocky about his little homicidal stunt, and it made Lydia's stomach turn.

"You're absolutely vile. I _hate_ you. I never wanted Luke dead. That was going way, _way_ too far. What in the hell made you think that doing that would be the best decision?" Lydia was keeping her distance, and for good reason.

He snorted, "Come on, Lyds. If I hadn't killed that piece of shit, he would've killed you first. Would ya _really _have wanted to risk that, babes?" Truthfully, Beetlejuice's main intentions here were to make Lydia say his name one last time in her sleep. Then, he'd be outta that damned place. As usual, Lydia was his nifty little "get out of jail free" card. Just one more time... That's all it took.

Before Lydia could respond, Beetlejuice snapped a finger in her direction and fabricated a zipper over her mouth so he could continue uninterrupted. "And uh, hey, aren't you forgettin' something here? I _wooonder_ how you'll get rid of prince charming's body, hm? I uh, _presume_ that I fine gal like yourself would prefer to _not_ be charged with homicide and spend the rest of your days locked up..."

Lydia unzipped her mouth, "I know what you're getting it, and I'm not taking the bait. Barbara and Adam will figure it out." She sounded so sure of herself. Poor kid, she'd come to rely on the Maitlands a bit too much for her own good.

Beetlejuice cleared his throat, "Well, kid, you seem to be forgetting one _teeny tiny detail... _**The Maitlands can't leave their fucking house.** Who ya gonna call to clean up the roadkill, then? Juno? She's a fucking case worker, not a janitor. Good luck with that, babes." But before Lydia could speak again, Beetlejuice zipped her mouth closed again. He started pacing, sarcastically putting his index finger to his chin in a melodramatic pondering pose. "Gee, if only there was _someone else_ who could help ya out, kid. Wouldn't _that_ be just fine and dandy?"

She unzipped her mouth for the second time now, "Yeah, because hiring _you_ to get things down worked _so well_ last time, right?"

He held his arms out, "You don't have any other options right now, babes. Truth be told. Unless you _want_ to be locked up for the rest of your life... Hey, that's your business. Breathers and their laws 'n shit."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, you know what? Fine. Okay. This is an emergency, and... Well, desperate situation call for things like you."

Out in reality, the final word had been spoken. Lydia had been sleeping for the entire rest of the day, and she'd been sleeping rather well luckily. No one had been able to wake up up. Barbara and Adam had decided to barge into her room, but only because the situation with Luke's body was starting to get a little dire, and they needed to speak with her. That's when they heard it.

Lydia groaned in her sleep, shuffling a bit. "... _Beetlejuice..._"

Barbara and Adam rushed over to cover Lydia's mouth, but it was too late. Little did the Maitlands know, however, that that'd been the third time.

In Lydia's dream, Beetlejuice had stopped their conversation simply to look at her with a wide, chesire cat like grin. He held his arms out, "It's showtime, babes." Lydia didn't get it. But then, she did. Her eyes fluttered open, and she shot up and looked around her room. No sign of Beetlejuice, but Barbara and Adam had been standing at her bed side. They looked fairly concerned. "Lydia, you said his name in your sleep. I think we're going to need to start checking in on you or something." Adam said, eyeing Barbara. "Honey, we really need to talk to you about the uh, situation with Luke. We've got to do something about it."

And at that particular moment, an all too familiar raspy voice sounded from somewhere in Lydia's room. "No need to, Barbs. You've got the best god damned dead guy in town to lend ya a hand with this one. Oh and, you're welcome for saving you from being exorcised by that way." Beetlejuice materialized in front of the Maitlands, dressed in his usual vertically stripped black and white suit. He had a cigarette in his right hand, taking a puff of it before continuing. "Gettin' me eaten by a sandworm, huh? Really? After what I did for you two fucks?" He winked at them passive agressively, turning his attention over to good 'ol Lyds. She looked very, very confused. Barbara and Adam were more horrified than confused.

Lydia threw her pillow at him, "What in the hell are you _doing_ here!? I thought we got rid of you over a decade ago! How did you...?"

He motioned over to her, giving her a wink. "It was aaaall you, babes. All you. You see, I snuck my way into your dreams and played with ya a bit." He stopped himself, realizing how sexual that sounded. He chuckled, "Hey, why didn't I think of that? I should've _really_ played with ya... If you know what I mean." He flicked his cigarette away. "Anyway. I made you say my name the good 'ol fashioned way, and you didn't even have a damned clue."

"BEETLE-" Barbara started, in an attempt to cast him back into the afterlife. However, Beetlejuice had pulled his old trick of slapping a screwed on piece of steel over her lips. He did the same to Adam, just for good measure. He needed these fucks to shut up for a hot minute. He lit up another cigarette, and continued.

"You know, I've done a whole mess of shit for you people. A _whole_ mess of shit. And what'd I get? Jack shit. Not a damned thing. I saved the Maitlands, murdered Lydia's abusive boyfriend... You know, all that shit. I didn't do a damned thing to deserve being treated like dog shit. C'mon, let's be pals! I'm here to help you dead beats _yet again_, anyway."

He brushed his sleeves off. "It seems that tonight, I'm playin' janitor and picking up your roadkill."

Lydia intervened, "You mean _your _road kill, you ass! You're the one that killed him! We didn't ask for that!"

He nodded and shrugged, "Alright, alright. Ya got me there. But you've gotta admit, babes, you know that I did you a damned good favor by doing that."

Lydia scoffed. "Oh, stop it. You had this planned out from the beginning, didn't you? You planned on killing Luke, because you _knew_ that we'd have no way of getting rid of the body. You _knew _that we'd have no choice but to turn to you."

Beetlejuice clapped, "I knew you were the right gal for me! Y'see? You know me _so_ well! C'mon babes, we can still make it work between us, right?" He walked over to the Maitlands, "And _you two_. If you send me back there, you're asses are cooked. That's your funeral. Or uh... _Second_ funeral."

He stepped back, his arms outstretched. "So how 'bout it, huh!? What's the verdict? You guys know you can't pass _this_ up."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Take those things off of their mouths, Beej. Please."

He, surprisingly, obliged the girl's wishes and did just so. He snapped his fingers and freed the Maitland's mouths. Immediately, Barbara sighed heavily. "I can't believe we're having to resort to _this_ guy again. But... I guess he's right, he's all we've got."

Adam held a finger up, "Now, hold on. Let's not jump into things." He turned his attention to Beetlejuice, narrowing his eyes. "What's the _real_ reason that you're here?"

Beetlejuice moved to sit next to Lydia on her bed, wrapping an arm rightly around her. "Well y'see, pops, good 'ol Lyds here owes me. Big time. If you all here recall, _she was supposed to marry me._ She agreed to and everything! She didn't hold up her end of the bargain, and I got cheated out of it. So, I'm here to seal that deal." He leaned his face towards Lydia's, planting a fat smack of a kiss on her pale cheek. She squirmed and pushed him away, "Ugh! Get off of me! Just... Okay, you know what? Let's get this over with. After you help us with this... I'll... I'll hold up my end of that bargain. But only if that means that you'll leave everyone in this house alone. For good."

Barbara gasped, her hand to her mouth. "Lydia, no!"

Beetlejuice was overjoyed. He wrapped his arm around her again, "I knew you'd come around! We'll talk later. But for NOW, let's go clean up that basement of yours!"

Beetlejuice took his leave, and the Maitlands followed. Lydia, however, stayed behind for a moment. Honestly, she didn't disagree with Beetlejuice. He _had_ done a lot for the Maitlands in the past, and had never gotten much of anything in return. He _had_ been cheated out of a deal, but... Lydia had only agreed to that to save the Maitlands. She didn't actually _want_ to marry him. But, when she put herself in his shoes... Perhaps it was a little unfair. And perhaps he had done her a favor by... _Dealing_ with Luke, so to speak. But why would he do that in the first place? He must have somehow been watching her and Luke's little altercation a few days ago, and intervened.

Was that Beetlejuice's way of protecting her? Or was it his way of protecting his get out of jail free card, rather?

She stood up, and finally followed her ghostly companions to the basement. She really didn't want to see Luke's body again. Just the thought of it made her feel sick with anxiety.

It was hard to tell if Beetlejuice was merely using her, or if his protection was genuine. Something in her wanted to believe that it was genuine, but it was only logical to conclude that he was only protecting her because, to him, she was a means to an end. She always had been.

She walked down hesitantly, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the body had already been dealt with. "What did you guys do with him?" She questioned, leaning against the wall next to the staircase leading back up into the house. "Well..." Barbara began, looking over at Beetlejuice, waiting for him to explain instead.

With a flick of his finger, Lydia could feel herself getting pulled to him. Her body then smacked into his, and he put his arm around her once again. "Well you see, babes, I may or may not have transported it to Saturn for the Sandworms to have a tasty little snack."

He was fully expecting to get smacked, but to his surprise, she shrugged. "Okay. Well, now that that's okay... Now what?" She was alarmingly apathetic to it now all of a sudden, which caused some concern from the Maitlands. Perhaps Lydia simply just didn't have anything left to feel. And also, oddly enough, she wasn't shoving Beetlejuice away and yelling at him for touching her. She simply remained against him, his arm still around her shoulder.

He leaned his face closer to hers, "Well, Lyds, I think we outta get hitched!" Lydia lightly left his embrace and shuffled off towards the stairs. "No, not yet. Give me some time." The tone of her voice seemed oddly monotone and lifeless.

The Maitlands looked at Beetlejuice. "If you so much as turn on that juice of yours even a little bit, you're out of here." Adam said sternly, fixing his glasses. "But for now, we're going to let you hang around... For the day. We're calling Juno over tomorrow to take care of you."

Beetlejuice let out a dramatic sigh. "_See?_ Every single time I help you dead beats out, I don't even get a Thank You! Same shit every time. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: The only one that I think that I can tolerate around here, is that daughter of yours... I think she understands me." He said with a wink, following after Lydia. As he walked past them, he decided to add, "And hey, guess what, she's _legal _now. You know what that means..." He loved getting a rise out of these prudes.

~/~

Lydia sat back in her room, accompanied by The Best Bio-Exorcist in the Afterlife. Or rather, Beetlejuice. They'd been talking for the past hour. And, surprisingly, she didn't feel like strangling him.

"So, what _was_ The Black Plague like, anyway?" She inquired, sitting on the edge of her bed, legs crossed.

"Well... It was full of a bunch of fucking sick people. And weird religious folk. That's about it, babes."

"Uh huh. Something tells me that _you_ could have started The Black Plague. I wouldn't be surprised."

He snorted, lighting up a cigarette. "I'm surprised that I even lived through that shit."

Speaking of life, she'd always been curious about something... "Hey, how did you die?"

He was surprisingly silent for a minute, blowing out some smoke. "We ain't talkin' about that, babes." She raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" He shrugged, "It's just not important. I've been dead for over six hundred years, Lyds. I hardly even remember shit like that from when I was a breather."

But in truth, he simply didn't want to discuss it because it was a sore subject. But being the man that he was, he had to keep that little facade up. That little act.

Lydia took that excuse. "Alright, fine. Oh and, thank you."

Beetlejuice scoffed. "For _what_?"

"For everything. I... I honestly don't think I would have ever gotten out of that relationship if it wasn't for..."

"If it wasn't for me busting in and indirectly rescuing your sorry ass, right?"

"Right."

"So you don't have your panties in a twist over me murdering your boyfriend anymore?"

"... I don't think so."

"Good! Because hey, speaking of your panties, I wouldn't mind seein' 'em. C'mon, babes. I'm feeling a little bit _anxious_, if you know what I mean."

Lydia made a disgusted face and pushed him, "Ugh, ew! God, you never change."

It seemed that things were going to be... Slightly different. Beetlejuice was finally here, and he was here to stay until Juno came and took him off yet again. But something in Lydia didn't exactly want him to go. Something about him was nice to have around, and she'd oddly missed it a bit. Not so much in a romantic way, but she missed his, uh... _Colorful_ personality. If he was in the room, shit wouldn't be boring or dull.

She could get used to this.


	5. The Void

Lydia and Beetlejuice had been talking with one another for a couple of hours now, laughing and joking. Lydia had found that she was able to get along rather well with Beetlejuice, now that she was older. Things were different now, and he wasn't a completely terrible man once you got used to him. Beetlejuice was most certainly an acquired taste, that much was for sure.

"Man, Lyds. You're actually not a complete bitch like I'd expected ya to be. You've actually gotten yourself a sense of humor, too. Shit, it's a god damned miracle!"

They'd been talking for a while, but Lydia wanted to know some things about him that he had been avoiding. She decided to try and pry a bit.

"But seriously, Beej, could you tell me a little bit about who you were when you were alive? You don't have to tell me _everything_ if you don't want to, I'm just genuinely curious. I can't even tell how you died by looking at you. It's a bit of a mystery."

Beetlejuice lit a cigarette, taking a puff and blowing some smoke out with a sigh. "Yeah, it _is_ a mystery. And it outta stay that way, babes. Look, I already told ya, I'm not talkin' about that shit. That shit was six-hundred fucking years ago, and it makes no god damned sense to revisit the past like that." He started getting rather defensive again, but Lydia was determined.

"Oh, come on. It can't be _that _bad. Just give me the gist of it so I'll shut up?" She was starting to think that she'd need to bribe him with something, but part of her just wanted to drop it. She really didn't want to pry too much, and she could tell that it was a touchy subject for him. Honestly, she'd never seen him get so defensive over anything like that before.

Beetlejuice was silent for a couple of moments, contemplating obliging her with a little information. Maybe it _would_ get her to shut up about it... The damned kid was starting to give him a headache just by talking about this shit. He let out a raspy, exasperated sigh. "Fine, fine. Alright, kid, I'll let you in on some confidential information on your good friend the Bio-Exorcist..."

Lydia shifted, sitting further back on her bed, crossing her legs. "This should be good." She humorously commented, a smirk on her face. "Should I be writing this down?"

He scoffed, "Oh, shut your face. Anyway..." He took another puff of his cigarette, blowing out the smoke. "What _exactly _do you want to know?" He knew he was going to kick himself in the ass for this later, but he also felt that it was only fair for dear 'ol Lyds to know some extra information on her Bio-Exorcist husband to be, right? Yeah, sure. He sincerely hated talking about his days as a breather, however. So she'd better appreciate this shit.

She rested her head on her right hand, pondering. "Hm... Tell me about how you died. And what you were like back then. Oh, and maybe even your real name?"

Beetlejuice held a hand up, "Woah, woah, woah, babes. One thing at a fucking time here. Pick _one_ topic, not five million of 'em."

She had to thing about that for a moment. It was difficult to decide, because she wanted to know the answers to each question equally as much. But perhaps... The story behind his death could be a start. "Okay, fine. Then tell me how you died."

He cracked his knuckles, flicking his cigarette on her floor and squishing it with his foot. He let out another sigh, like speaking the proceeding words was a legitimate hassle for him. "When I was a breather all of those shitty centuries ago, during The Black Plague, I was generally just a shitty person. I'd steal shit, and I was a dead beat, to put it lightly. I'd never worked an honest day in my life, because all I'd ever do is rob people blind and sell their shit off. Well, obviously, I ended up getting caught. They threw me in jail." He motioned to his vertically stripped suit, "Which explains the wardrobe you're seein' here. Back then, the whole black and white stripes thing wasn't exactly a dress code for most prisons. People just didn't wear that kind of shit back then, ever. But for some reason, my prison did. All of the inmates wore stripes like that. Hell, that's probably where that trend started. Well... To say the least, the prison's conditions weren't exactly the most _sanitary_, and that's putting it very lightly. Everyone got wooden buckets to shit and piss in, it was the epitome of fuckin' glamor, let me tell ya." He rolled his eyes, eyeing her to see if she was still paying attention.

She most certainly was. This was all actually pretty interesting. She motioned with her hand, "And...?"

He continued, "And... There was a bit of an insect problem. No one could even get a decent amount of sleep because of the damned beetle infestation. And, back then, anything with a heartbeat held some kind of shitty disease. Especially with the Plague goin' around. Long story short, I ended up being the sorry fucker that bit the dust from getting continuously bitten by beetles, and I ended up contracting some kind of disease that gave me sores all over my fucking body. It was terrible. I still have _no_ god damned clue what I contracted to this day, and none of the prison guards obviously gave a fuck if I died or not. So, I ended up dying alone in a cell eventually. Whatever the hell I contracted fucked with my head. It made me see shit that wasn't there, all of that fun shit." He motioned to the green splotches on his hand, "The sores that I talked about earlier? Well, that explains this green shit all over me now. It looks like moss, but it's not really supposed to be." He sighed, shaking his head. "It's all fucking complicated, babes. Now, will you shut up about it? Does that _satisfy_ your nosy ass?"

Lydia looked at him, and nodded slowly. "Yeah, it does. Thank you for telling me all of that, you really didn't need to. Let's just hope that you didn't just bullshit that whole story to shut me up, you jerk." She chuckled, nudging him.

He threw his arms up, "I swear, babes, I'm tellin' ya the honest to fuck truth here! Anyway, I figured I outta earn your trust _somehow_... So I may as well start with meaningless crap like that." He then eyed Lydia, "Your turn, babes. I've got my own questions. And you'd better answer them fucking honestly."

Lydia raised an eyebrow. What could he possibly want to know about her? "Okay, shoot. Try me."

"Well, for starters: Why in the ever loving fuck did you stay with that abusive dead beat, anyway? I mean, seriously Lyds. He'd hit you before, and you _still_ stuck with the guy. There's loyalty, and then there's just being a fucking idiot. Glad I killed him."

She shrugged. "I just kept hoping that he'd changed, honestly. And for a while... He had. Before a couple of days ago, he hadn't even laid a finger on me like that for two years. What happened the other night... It really, genuinely surprised me. I didn't expect that from him. But... I never wanted him to die. No one deserves death like that." Then, she caught on to something. "Wait... Beej, what you're talking about was from two years ago. Have you been watching me for all this time?" She felt slightly violated, but also... Strangely, she felt protected. Like there had always been someone watching over her. She felt an odd comfort in it.

He snorted, "Don't get all fuckin' sappy on me. Yeah, sure, I may have peeked in from time to time to see how me dear little Lyds was doin', but only really because I had jack shit else to fucking do in that waiting room. Besides... You are, and always will be, my own little personal "get out of jail free" card, babes. Heh." He grinned, his eyes narrowing down on her. "I killed that fucker boyfriend of yours because I didn't exactly _like_ the idea of some idiot killing off my one and only ticket out of that hell hole. Just sayin'. I wasn't about to let him fuck me over."

Lydia looked slightly offended, and mostly hurt. "_I knew it._ You were never trying to protect _me_, you were only protecting your "get out of jail free" card. I should have known." She scooted away from him slightly, glaring at him distrustingly.

He held his arms out, a smug grin on his face. "The fuck did you expect from me, huh? You're talkin' to _the ghost with the most_ here, the con-artist of the afterlife! Did you expect some sincere, kittens and rainbows kind of guy that would come and rescue you from your shitty boyfriend out of the kindness of my lifeless heart? Yeah, ain't gonna happen." Although, truthfully, he had felt some need to protect her genuinely. He didn't like watching her get hit like that, and something in him felt inclined to genuinely protect her. But he absolutely refused to allow those inner motivations and feelings to shine through to his exterior. He refused to acknowledge them. But, mostly, he literally _couldn't_ acknowledge them. His humanity had been gone for six centuries. He didn't even _remember_ what it felt like to have normal, human emotions. He'd since become a rather ruthless spirit.

To put it simply: Beetlejuice was not capable of feeling human emotion as a normal human being would. It was all very complicated, and mostly repressed.

He often felt legitimate human emotion, but merely couldn't acknowledge it.

He needed to learn how. He needed to be re-taught how to feel sincere emotion.

Lydia shoved him, her face twisting with bitterness. "I have no idea why I ever even began to trust you. I should have known better. I'm gonna go talk to Adam and Barbara, and hopefully..." She decided not to finish that sentence. It wouldn't be wise of her to. She didn't want to give Beetlejuice any prior knowledge of Juno's arrival, so he could have time to prepare an escape of some sort.

As Lydia got up to walk out of her room, Beetlejuice made a simple motion with his index finger to slam her bedroom door shut directly after she had opened it. He then, of course, locked it. "Finish that sentence." He said, eying her.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Oh god, not _this_ crap again. Look, Beej, I just went through this with my abusive dead boyfriend. I don't need this kind of crap again."

With another flick of his finger, he pulled Lydia back over to him. He made her stay in front of him, rooted to the spot. "Look, I'm not trying to stir up any shit. I just want ya to finish your god damned sentence. It's that simple."

She sighed. "Okay, fine, whatever. I was going to say that I wanted to go out and talk to Barbara and Adam... So we could discuss when Juno would get here. Because honestly, I don't know if I can trust you. And with the crap that you just spewed out of your mouth, you just admitted to me that I'm still just a means to an end for you, and nothing more."

He sighed, his hands on his knees. "Did you expect anything else? I mean, c'mon. Do you even know who you're fuckin' talkin' to here? Look, that's _your_ fault for hoping for anything else outta me, babes. Not mine. As for getting Juno over here... Hell, what the fuck ever. She'll find me eventually anyway and lock my ass up again. Remember: I'm fairly used to being imprisoned, sweets."

He could feel something nagging at him, internally. Something in him was objecting to what he was saying. Something in him didn't want to hurt this girl any further. But, of course, he proceeded. Because he was a master in the art of emotional repression.

He released control of Lydia, and she stretched herself out. She folded her arms, still standing in front of him, eyeing him skeptically. "You'd earn my trust if you told me a little more about yourself, you know. But that doesn't mean that I'm marrying you."

"Look, a deal is a fuckin' deal. I owned up to my half of the deal at the time, and what the fuck did you do? Oh yeah, that's right, cheat me out of _your_ half of the deal. Let's just keep that in mind. As for me telling you anything else... Nah, fat chance."

Lydia sighed, silently walking towards her bedroom door again. Perhaps hoping was something that she shouldn't be doing anymore. Because, frankly, she had learned that hoping... Was usually hopeless hope.

~/~

Juno, the infamous case worker of the afterlife, appeared before Barbara and Adam. The Maitlands had been downstairs in the front room, casually lounging about. Adam jumped when Juno suddenly materialized with a puff of smoke, a cigarette predictably in her right hand. They hadn't been expecting her. Juno seemed impatient, and slightly irritated. As usual. "Where the hell is he? Apparently, I'm the afterlife's leading exterminator now." She scoffed, taking a puff out of her cigarette. The smoke, as usual, escaped through the slit in her throat.

Barbara pointed to the stairs, "He's upstairs with Lydia, in her room. You know, Juno, he honestly hasn't been being much of a problem since he's been here."

Juno shot Barbara a look. She'd always known that the Maitlands weren't the brightest people in the world, but that was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever heard come out of that woman's mouth. "Really, is that so? Last I checked, he managed to kill a guy in your own house. You do realize that he's here for Lydia, right? Look, I don't have a lot of time for this. I _do_ have clients."

Barbara motioned towards the stairs again. "Well... Alright. You know where to go."

Before Juno disappeared again within a puff of smoke, she grumbled: "I'm _always_ having to chase down this idiot. It never ends with that bastard. Never. Ugh. It's like watching after some god forsaken rebellious teenager..." Then, she was gone. Juno materialized within Lydia's bedroom, taking another puff from her cigarette. Beetlejuice nearly jumped out of his skin, not exactly expecting Juno to arrive so soon.

"Ah, shit." He said gravely, grumbling.

Juno pointed a finger at him. "What in the _hell_ is the matter with you? Are you kidding me? What, do you _want_ to be locked up in that waiting room for the rest of eternity?" She looked over at Lydia, who had clearly been slightly annoyed by something from the expression on her face. "Let me guess, he wants _you_ as his magical ticket out still, right? Ugh, good lord. It never ends." She looked back over at Beetlejuice. "You're coming back with me, idiot. And guess what? You're going to be under some seriously strict watch now. You did this to yourself, buddy. Come on, let's go."

Beetlejuice frowned. He would have resisted the old hag, but she'd cleverly enabled that little restraint on him the moment she'd entered the room. With her restraint, he wasn't able to use an ounce of his juice. He rose, sighing. He looked back at Lydia, "Well, babes, it was fun while it lasted."

Lydia could feel her heart sink. She truly, genuinely didn't want him to go. Even after everything that they had just argued over, and her distrust for the ghost, she still felt the want to keep him around. Something in her just didn't want him to leave, mostly because she knew that he'd more than likely be gone for good after this. Juno would make sure of that.

Lydia rose, "Juno, is there any other way that he can maybe do his time? _Anything_ else?"

Juno looked slightly surprised. "Oh, god. Don't tell me that you're getting _attached_ to this idiot. Sweetie, don't be as stupid as the Maitlands. Seriously. Trust me when I tell you that this guy, right here, is not going to be any good in your life."

Something in Lydia disagreed with the ghostly old woman. But before Lydia could respond, Beetlejuice and Juno had disappeared in a cloud of smoke. That was it, he was gone for good. For the rest of her life.

She stood there, looking into the empty space for a moment. It had all happened so fast, and she had no idea what she was feeling. Her room had grown eerily silent. She'd gotten used to hearing Beetlejuice's disgusting cackling for the past four or five hours. Her room felt extremely vacant.

She was both glad that he was gone, but also wanted him back. She wasn't understanding any of this. The logical side of her told her that it was better for him to be gone, so that she could continue on with her life. But the other half of her, the emotional side, felt something entirely different.

Perhaps she _had_ taken a liking to the bastard. But she wasn't willing to completely admit it to herself just yet. Instinctively, the first thought that crossed her mind was figuring out a way to get him back into the realm of the living.

Maybe there was some kind of ritual... There had to be something.

Maybe something for _her_ to do so that she could go to _him_.

Then, a memory played in her mind. Her first time meeting him, when he was in Adam's toy model, sitting on the balcony of that weird whore house. She'd mentioned that she wanted to "get in," meaning that she wanted to die and be on the other side. She recalled what Beetlejuice had said in response... But it was mostly the _way_ that he had said it that had gotten her thinking. His response to her was simply, but it held much more weight to it.

All he said to her was simply: "_Why?_"

But it was the _way_ that he'd said it... It implied so much. Obviously, Lydia had long since gotten over wanting to die. But something in here _still _wanted to venture into the other side... Her obsession with death had never subsided. She had always been curious.

There had to be a way. There had to be some kind of ritual... Some way.

She'd figure it out. But for now, she didn't feel like being alone with her thoughts anymore. She walked downstairs to chat with Barbara and Adam, hoping to distract herself, and maybe get their opinion on some things.

Barbara had been dusting some shelves while Adam lounged on the nearby couch, reading a book. They had some music quietly playing in the background.

"Hey, guys." She sounded slightly bummed out. Lydia plopped herself down on the armchair next to the couch, crossing her elegant legs.

Barbara looked back at her, and Adam peered up from his book. "Well hey there, Lydia. Is something the matter? Looks like Juno took care of our pest problem." Barbara said with a smile.

"I should be, but I'm not. Not entirely, anyway. He was only back for a couple of hours, but it's pretty boring without him around honestly."

Adam shrugged. "Well, honey... You know that he's never good news. Whenever he's involved, something bad happens. For example, your now deceased boyfriend."

"Well yeah, but... Luke was a dirt bag anyway. He had it coming."

Barbara stopped dusting and gave Lydia a slightly appalled look. "Lydia, _no one_ deserves death. You're talking about your boyfriend of two years here, honey. He was just _murdered_ a day or so ago. Don't you care?"

Lydia shrugged. "Not anymore. I obviously mourned him in the beginning, but... He abused me. He was an asshole. In my books, he was better off dead." She was starting to sound like Beetlejuice now. Because, honestly, she'd grown to agree with him on that topic.

Barbara still looked fairly shocked. Mostly because Lydia just wasn't being herself. At all. "Lydia, what has gotten into you? You're not being yourself, sweetie."

Lydia sighed. "I've just formed a different opinion on the whole thing now. Honestly. I'm still the same old me, I just... Don't want to dwell on the whole thing anymore." She didn't want to bring up the idea of her going to the world of the dead just yet to the Maitlands. She needed to decide if that was what she really wanted to do first. But until then... She was stuck here. Doing nothing. Watching a boring house, in the middle of nowhere.

This was going to be _thrilling_... Especially with no one around to keep her company.

~/~

Beetlejuice sat at the opposite side of Juno's desk, his arms folded. He was slumped back in the musty red chair, looking as bored as ever as Juno chewed his ass out over what had just happened.

"And here I was, thinking that you weren't _that_ much of an idiot! Killing a breather, are you kidding me!? What am I going to _do_ with you..." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "I've got all of this paperwork to do, and now I've got _you _to deal with on top of all of that."

Beetlejuice leaned back, yawning. "To be fair, JuneBug, I was pretty damned justified in killing that breather. He was being an abusive asshole to the Deetz brat. Shit, I don't give many fucks about morality, but that's something that I don't exactly enjoy watchin'."

Juno pointed a finger at him. "I don't _give a damn_ why you murdered someone! The bottom line is that murder of the living is _strictly_ prohibited, and you know that! Meddling in mortal affairs isn't something that any dead person should be doing. And _don't_ try to pitch me that crap about you "protecting" the Deetz girl, because I know you. You weren't protecting _her_, you were protecting your _ticket._"

Good 'ol JuneBug didn't know him as well as she'd like to think. It was starting to freak him out a little bit, but he was starting to come to terms with the fact that part of him was legitimately trying to look out for the Deetz brat. But no matter how he tried to pitch that to Juno, he knew that she wouldn't buy it.

So, to put it simply: He was fucking screwed. In here for the rest of eternity, in fact. Wasn't _that_ just fucking great.

He shrugged. "I don't know what to tell ya, hag. That was my way of tryin' to be the good guy."

She took a puff of her cigarette. "I don't have time for this. For... Who knows how long, I haven't decided yet, you're going to get placed in your own room. Solitary confinement, basically. I'm obviously going to be locking your juice down so you can't pull any cheap parlor tricks, and your ass is going to be getting watched constantly. Just to make sure you're not up to anything."

He sighed, and shrugged. "Yeah, okay, whatever, I get it. I'm screwed and all that. Let's just get all of this shit over with."

Juno snapped her fingers, and transported Beetlejuice into a solid black room. The room itself had been located next to The Lost Souls Room, within the hallway of abstract shapes. Beetlejuice looked around at his surroundings, and it was already starting to fuck with his head. There was nothing but the infinite void around him. Nothing for as far as the eyes could see. The only thing in the room was a bed. A shitty bed, at that.

He sat down on the bed's edge, starring off into the infinite void.

Well, this fucking sucked.

He should have told Lyds all about his past while he had the chance. Because now, she would never know. He felt a bit of regret over that, but whatever. Lyds had grown up into a good looking woman. He would have loved to get his hands on her and...

Ah, fuck. The last thing he wanted was a ghostly boner. Fuck those thoughts.

Lydia's company would have been much appreciated right now. He was already bored as shit, and he knew that he'd surely lose his mind in here in about a week. There must have been _some_ way to connect with her still. Some way. Some loophole. But he couldn't think of any. For once, he didn't have any tricks up his sleeve.

He was feeling a genuine want to talk to the Deetz brat, and it was freaking him the hell out.


End file.
